Bush debacle

OPINION

Our position: Miers was a victim in the president's botched appointment.

October 28, 2005|By Sage

Harriet Miers' abrupt withdrawal from the Supreme Court nomination process does not reflect well on the White House or the wing of the president's party that demanded it.

Ms. Miers at least deserved an opportunity to defend her qualifications before the Senate and the American people in confirmation hearings. But President George W. Bush, who badly miscalculated the reaction of his conservative base to Ms. Miers, yielded to their opposition in accepting her withdrawal.

The whole unfortunate episode has wasted valuable time for the high court, which will have to operate even longer with a retiring justice, Sandra Day O'Connor. Eventually the court might have to rehear arguments or reconvene conferences when the next justice takes a seat on the bench.

This political tempest also has unfairly sullied the reputation of Ms. Miers, an accomplished lawyer. She was the first woman hired by a leading Dallas law firm, the first to lead the firm, the first woman to head the Dallas Bar Association and the first elected president of the State Bar of Texas. She was ranked among the country's top lawyers. Yet she was caricatured as a mere crony because she left her lucrative private practice to take a position in the White House.

The fact that Ms. Miers had never served as a judge was not a good reason for ruling her out as a Supreme Court justice. On dozens of occasions, previous presidents nominated justices without experience on the bench. Some of them became leading members of the court, including William Rehnquist, Byron White, Louis Brandeis and Earl Warren.

Having stuck out his neck to nominate his friend Ms. Miers, and having declared her to be the most qualified candidate for the high court, Mr. Bush had an obligation to stand by her as pressure from conservative groups mounted. Instead, White House support became tepid, culminating in the president's "reluctant" acceptance of her withdrawal.

Surely the president could have anticipated that senators would insist on access to information associated with her time in the White House when they did not have any judicial rulings from her to review. His refusal to consider that request suggests that the White House had become eager for a way to pull the plug on Ms. Miers' nomination.

In effect, the groups that opposed Ms. Miers demanded assurances that she would rule their way on abortion and other hot-button issues. That's become standard practice from groups on the right and left. She was absolutely correct to rebuff those demands. Any would-be justice who offers such assurances is compromising his or her impartiality as well as the integrity of the Supreme Court.

Mr. Bush has promised to nominate another high-court justice soon. This time it is essential that he choose a highly qualified candidate that he will be willing to stick by, whether the political pressure comes from the right or the left.